Vic Roby
Victor M. (Vic) Roby (born November 9, 1917)Intelius People Search for Victor Roby is a former radio and television announcer, voice-over artist and public affairs show host, and served for years as a staff announcer with NBC. Early life and career Roby, who grew up in Mississippi, was an alumnus of Millsaps College ('38) where he had been an Alpha Iota brother.Chapter Eternal (PDF file) (Roby's brother, who passed away in 2006, was another Alpha Iota brother at Millsaps.) He entered the broadcasting business in the 1940s, working as a newsreader and announcer at KOA (AM) in Denver, Colorado.Sies, Luther F. Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920–1960. Jefferson, NC, McFarland & Co., Inc., 2000. After a brief stint with the Mutual Broadcasting System where he announced on the 1950 version of The Rudy Vallee Show, Roby joined the announcing staff of NBC in New York City by 1952. Network announcer Roby handled announcing for numerous radio and television programs during his career, including MonitorMonitor Photo Album, Page 8 (http://www.monitorbeacon.net/) and working as sub-announcer on Concentration and The Price Is Right in the early 1960s. But his chief claim to fame was announcing on network promos, bumpers and program introductions, most notably a variation of the shortened 1968 version of the "Laramie Peacock" bumper on which he intoned, "Now, a special program in living color on NBC," which ran on television specials aired on the network through 1975. In addition, he handled local announcing duties for WNBC-TV, including public service announcements, station identifications, live tags and occasional Emergency Broadcast System tests. He was one of a core group of well-known voices for the NBC network which also included Don Pardo, Howard Reig, Mel Brandt, Bill Wendell, Roger Tuttle, Bill McCord, Arthur Gary, Bill Hanrahan, Wayne Howell and Jerry Damon (whose voice bore some similarities to Roby's, leading to some confusion between the two). Commercial voice-over Over the years, Roby did many commercials for various products and services on both radio and television; he was part of a group of New York announcers (also including his NBC colleague Howard Reig and WOR-TV's Phil Tonken) who did so. Roby made headlines in 1969 when he put an advertisement in Variety indicating that he would no longer be available for cigarette commercials, citing "evidence . . . that smoking could lead to cancer, heart attacks, strokes, emphysema and fires."Lose $100,000 and Feel Good. Kiplinger's Personal Finance, September 1969. He was one of a growing number of media personalities to do so, nearly two years before cigarette advertising on television was banned. Public affairs host Roby also served as host, narrator or interviewer on numerous public affairs shows that ran on NBC's New York radio and TV outlets. On WNBC-TV, he was a moderator of the discussion/call-in show Direct Line for much of its 1959–73 run, and after its cancellation he was one of the narrators of the long-running weekly documentary series, New York Illustrated.An episode of New York Illustrated narrated by Roby and originally aired on June 30, 1974, "Arson!" (a look at the epidemic of deliberately set fires that was gripping the city at the time) is in the collection of the Paley Center for Media in New York. On WNBC (AM), he hosted another call-in series, In Contact.66 WNBC Tribute Page Retirement Roby, who lived for years in Scarsdale, New York,Dr. J. A. Boyce to Wed Deborah Roby Sept. 20. The New York Times, August 24, 1986. retired from NBC in 1983. As of 2009, he is only one of three former NBC staff announcers who are still alive (the other two are Don Pardo and Roger Tuttle). References and notes External links * * Vic Roby radio credits * 1968 "special program" Peacock bumper announced by Roby (YouTube) * Video of December 24, 1980 Emergency Broadcast System test on WNBC-TV announced by Roby (YouTube via TVARK) Category:1917 births Category:Millsaps College alumni Category:People from Scarsdale, New York Category:Radio and television announcers Category:Game show announcers Category:American broadcast news analysts Category:American radio personalities Category:American television personalities Category:American television talk show hosts Category:American voice actors Category:NBC network announcers Category:Living people